Care for creatures and land
Prairie du Sac wildlife rehabilitator Linda M. Bethke brought Huey, a 4-year-old great horned owl, to the Earth Day event in Rock Spring Sunday. Huey had a wing severely damaged in a car accident and can no longer fly, she said. Now, he helps when she teaches people about owls and other birds of prey. Photo by Brian D. Bridgeford
By Brian D. Bridgeford
ROCK SPRINGS — From birds to land preservation, visitors perused exhibits on many subjects during the annual Earth Day celebration Sunday at the Rock Springs Memorial Community Center. Reedsburg resident Audrey Fuller brought her daughters, Cassie, 9, and Mandi, 7, and her fiance, Phil Spurling of Oxfordshire, England, to the event. She said they were hoping to enjoy exposure to nature. They watched as wildlife rehabilitator Linda M. Bethke of Prairie du Sac displayed, Huey, a 4-year-old great horned owl. Huey had a wing severely damaged when he was hit by a car in northern Wisconsin and he will not fly again. Now he helps educate people about wild animals, particularly raptors, Bethke said. Huey has some adaptations that make him a powerful night hunter, she said. His eyes are large to take in a lot of light so he can catch animals at night and his wings have fringes so he flies silently so his prey doesn't hear him. "He can lift up three times his body weight, so if you let your cats out at night, not a good idea," Bethke warned onlookers. "Cats have to stay in the house anyway because they kill so many songbirds." Cassie Fuller liked the display of the large bird. "It's cool," she said. David Wernecke of the Baraboo Range Preservation Association was present to promote the idea of preserving land within the Baraboo bluffs. The association helps property owners with legal documents called conservation easements which allow land to stay in private ownership, but limit what kind of development is done on it. "We have people who get ahold of us who've done a great job taking care of their forest land," he said. "They want to make sure the next person along the line takes care of their woods in a similar fashion to what they have, or if they have farmland, they want to see it continue as farmland rather than being sub-divided as housing." Phyllis Both, Sauk County master gardener, had a booth encouraging people to compost their food and other organic waste rather than dump it in a landfill. Their reward would be a rich black material that will enrich their gardens, she said. "Compost will aerate your soil and add a lot of nutrients," she said.